Mixed Reality on Universal Design’s Secret Service Erasmus Project

Project Title

Mixed Reality on Universal Design’s Secret Service

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

According to the European Commission Education & Training 2020 programme and report on Modernisation Agenda of Higher Education (HE) improvement of quality and relevance of teaching and learning is one of the most crucial issues that has to be addressed. The biggest challenge for HE is alleviating the problem that is posed by a gap between graduates’ skills and demands of the labour market as well as improving teaching standards in tertiary education institutions.

The European Commission surmises that all new products and services should follow the principles of Universal Design (UD) as stated in the UN Convention. They should be designed and produced in such a way that poses no difficulty for any person, regardless of their disability, impediment, age, gender etc.

Modern society strives for an increasingly closer integration, at the same time recognizing the need for reducing exclusions and perceiving that as an opportunity for more dynamic development. As a result, the formed environment of social coexistence should eliminate all potential barriers limiting functioning of each individual. It is imperative that future engineers are aware of the needs of their products and services users, as understanding their requirements is vital for successfully developing and introducing innovative products that cater for and answer to the distinct needs of diverse populations.

TUL is committed to development of their staff in areas of didactics, educational methods and modern teaching tools. Projects such as ZPU (https://www.zpu.p.lodz.pl) are regularly carried out to increase competencies and analyse the educational needs of faculty members. Conducted surveys and questionnaires demonstrated a great need of academics for new teaching solutions and modern educational methods. What is more, in association with BON, a survey was carried out among students to check their level of knowledge about UD and empathetic approach in design. Results have shown that the awareness level leaves room for improvement. Similar surveys have been carried out on partner universities.

The main objective of this project is increasing UD competencies of future engineers, educators and designers by handing them a set of practical educational tools based on Mixed Reality (MR) to better understand various accessibility needs by experience. Planned activities will enhance the following UD competencies:
-eliminating accessibility barriers without compromising on primary design concepts,
-combining functionality with usefulness without abandoning aesthetic value,
-applying UD policies in all types of projects,
-applying UD policies in the whole project lifecycle.

The success of this project will be achieved by creating an MR application. MR is by definition a consolidation of the real and virtual world into one visual environment in which virtual objects are intertwined with physical ones and both of them can interact in real time. MR as a hybrid of physical and digital worlds provides high immersion possibilities, especially when combined with a set of sensors, peripheric sound devices, haptic components and other sensory accessories. It allows, in a relatively short time, to create an immersion so strong that the effects of MR experience can be compared to the ones in reality. An undisputed advantage of MR technology is the possibility to create educational scenarios that in the real world might be dangerous or expensive, thus impossible to realise.

Deploying and sharing a state-of-the-art MR-based teaching-learning Universal Design system among European design education is the key innovation of our proposal. We believe that our haptic multisensory application will enhance future designers’ vital skill – understanding of other human beings. It will be done by putting themselves in someone else’s shoes and the possibility to perceive the emotions of others by MR visualisation will boost their empathy and sensitivity while designing. What is more, by teaching students to be more conscious of other people’s needs and feelings, we can have an impact on building a tolerant, respecting society.

There are three target groups for this project: students, academics and professional designers.The universities, academic staff and students will benefit from:
-access to engaging and immersive exercises in the form of group tasks,
-risk free opportunity to learn by doing, by means of MR,
-accessible education – distance learning with MR-aided materials.
-attractive teaching tool tailored to fit the curriculum.

From the business perspective:
-graduates with higher qualifications, especially in term of UD;
-new employees equipped with high demand skills;

The consortium consists of five parties: TUL (the leader), NIOM, UT, UAVR, and P.Porto.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 329886,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

POLITECHNIKA LODZKA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• INSTYTUT MEDYCYNY PRACY IMIENIA PROF. DRA MED. JERZEGO NOFERA W LODZI
• INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DO PORTO
• TARTU ULIKOOL
• UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO